Wood Properties

• Botanical name: Acer saccharum
  
• Color: Color ranges from cream to light reddish brown.
  
• Appearance: The pattern is usually straight-grained and sometimes found with highly figured bird's-eye or burl grain.
  
• Physical features: Maple properties also include that this wood type is heavy, hard, strong, tough, stiff, close-grained, and possesses a uniform texture.
  
• Resitance: Maple has excellent resistance to abrasion, indentation, and shock.
• Uses : Furniture, cabinets, decorative woodwork, flooring, cutting surfaces, musical instruments, bowling pins, utensils, and bowls. Takes stain satisfactorily and polishes well.
  

Properties of Pine Wood

• Botanical name:Pinus strobus
• Types: White Pine and Yellow Pine
• Color & Appearance: Pine is a soft, white or pale yellow wood. Color, texture and grain of pinewood are highly diverse. It is almost impossible to find an exact match of wood color and pattern even if these are taken from two standing trees that grew side by side. As the tree gets older, the color of its wood turns deeper.
• Physical features: Pine wood is light weight, straight grained and lacks figure. It resists shrinking and swelling. Knotty pine is often used for decorative effect.
• Uses:Pine is often used for country or provincial furniture. Pickled, whitened, painted and oil finishes are often used on this wood.

Properties of Walnut Wood

• Botanical name: Juglans nigra
  
• Color: The wood develops a rich patina that grows more lustrous with age. Its Color ranges from light gray-brown to dark purplish-brown.
  
• Appearance: The patterns include plain to highly figured. This species produces a greater variety of figure types than any other.
  
• Physical Features:Walnut, is one of the most fine hardwoods. Walnut mixes well with other woods and natural materials to provide a friendly atmosphere in otherwise austere interiors. Characteristics are moderately heavy, very strong, and exceptionally stable.
  
• Uses : Furniture, cabinets, doors, flooring, architectural woodwork, gunstocks, and novelties. Walnut takes and holds paints and stains exceptionally well, and is readily polished.

Properties of Mahogany Wood

• Botanical name:Swientenia Macrophylla
• Color:Creamy-white sapwood and reddish brown heartwood, often with a purple cast.
  
• Appearance: These have interlocked or straight grain, often with a ribbon figure, and a moderately coarse texture.
  
• Physical properties: These include moderately heavy and hard with medium bending and crushing strength, low stiffness and shock resistance, moderate decay resistance, and good stability in use. Works fairly easily although interlocked, woolly grain can be troublesome. Glues, nails, and screws satisfactorily. Stains and polishes to an excellent finish.
  
• Uses : Used for furniture, cabinetry, high class joinery, interior trim, boat building, vehicle bodies, paneling, plywood, and decorative veneers.
  

Properties of Ebony Wood

• Botanical name:Diospyros ebenum
• Color:Fresh cut Ebony sapwood displays a pink coloring, darkening to red brown over time. Because of Ebony’s dark coloring, it is actually one of the few flooring materials that does not change color over time. Mainly heartwood is used, but the sapwood may display a darkening of the light brown and pink tones.
• Appearance: This type of wood has a fine texture with varying grain patterns ranging from straight to curly. The natural luster of the wood may appear somewhat metallic. Appearance Straight to irregular grain with a fine, even texture and metallic luster.
• Physical Features: Very heavy, hard, strong, and stiff with high shock and decay resistance. Steam-bends reasonably well but wood is brittle. Works with difficulty due to hardness. - heartwood has severe blunting effect on cutting edges. Requires pre-drilling to nail or screw. Glues satisfactorily and takes an excellent finish.
• Uses : Used for luxury furniture, carving, and various turned items including knife and tool handles, billiard cues, and brush backs. Also used for combs, piano keys and other musical instrument parts, inlay, and decorative veneer.

Properties of Rosewood

• Botanical name:Dalbergia latfilia
• Other names: Also known as East Indian rosewood, Bombay rosewood, bombay blackwood, shisham, sitsal, malabar, sissoo, biti, ervadi, and kalaruk.
  
• Appearance:Commonly interlocked grain with a uniform, moderately coarse texture. Purple-brown heartwood with attractive dark streaks and yellowish white sapwood, often with a purple tinge.
• Physical Features:Heavy, hard, and dense with high bending and crushing strengths, medium shock resistance, good stability and steam bending, and very durable heartwood. Holds screws and nails well and glues satisfactorily. Finishes nicely although filling recommended.
• Uses : Primarily used for decorative and ornamental purposes including furniture, cabinetry, paneling, and turnery. Also used for musical and mathematical instruments, brush backs, inlay, sculpture, boat construction, hammer heads, and decorative flooring.

Properties of Teak Wood

• Botanical name:Techtona grandis.
• Other names: Also known as Burma teak, Rangoon teak, moulmein teak, gia thi, jati sak, kyun, mai sak, rosawa, and many other local names.
  
• Appearance: Generally straight grained with a coarse, uneven texture, medium luster and an oily feel.
  
• Color:Yellow brown to dark golden brown heartwood and grayish or white sapwood.
  
• Physical Features: Moderately hard and heavy, with low stiffness and shock resistance, moderate bending strength, moderate steam bending, and excellent decay resistance and dimensional stability. Stains and finishes well although natural oils can cause adhesion difficulties.
• Uses : Has numerous uses including ship building (especially decks), indoor or outdoor furniture, high class joinery, flooring, paneling, plywood, decorative veneers, turnery, carving, chemical tanks and vats.

Properties of Willow Wood

• Varied names: Black willow, white willow, crack willow, cricket-bat willow, and close-bark willow.
  
• Appearance: Typically straight grained, sometimes interlocked with a fine, uniform texture.
  
• Color: Pale reddish brown to grayish brown heartwood and whitish sapwood.
  
• Physical features: Light, soft, and weak, with low shock resistance, decay resistance, and steam bending properties. Glues, screw, nails, and finishes satisfactorily.
• Uses : Used for millwork, packing cases and boxes, artificial limbs, caskets, polo balls, cricket bats, Venetian blinds, slack cooperage, veneer, and inexpensive furniture.